Biography:Johann Balmer: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Mathematician known for the Balmer formula for hydrogen spectral lines}}
{{Short description|Swiss mathematician known for the Balmer formula}}
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{{Biography page}}
 
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Johann Balmer
| image = Biography_Johann_Balmer.jpeg
| caption = Balmer
| birth_date = 1 May 1825
| birth_place = Lausen, Switzerland
| death_date = 12 March 1898
| death_place = Basel, Switzerland
| fields = Mathematics; physics
| work_institutions = University of Basel
| known_for = Balmer formula; hydrogen spectral lines
}}
 
'''Johann Balmer''' (1825-1898) was a Swiss mathematician known for the Balmer formula, an empirical relation describing visible spectral lines of hydrogen.
'''Johann Balmer''' (1825-1898) was a Swiss mathematician known for the Balmer formula, an empirical relation describing visible spectral lines of hydrogen.


Balmer's formula became one of the clues that atomic spectra are quantized. In the Quantum Collection, his name is linked with hydrogen spectra, energy levels, and atomic transitions.
== Hydrogen spectrum ==
Balmer found a simple numerical pattern in hydrogen's visible spectral lines. The formula was discovered before the quantum theory of the atom, but it became an important clue that atomic energy levels are discrete.
 
Later work by [[Biography:Johannes Rydberg|Johannes Rydberg]] generalized spectral formulas, and [[Biography:Niels Bohr|Niels Bohr]] explained the hydrogen spectrum using quantized orbits.


== See also ==
== Quantum Collection links ==
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/hydrogen]]
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/hydrogen]]
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/energy level]]
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/energy level]]
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/transition]]
* [[Physics:Quantum atoms/transition]]
* [[Physics:Quantum Spectral lines and series]]
== References ==
{{reflist|3}}
* {{Cite web |title=Johann Jakob Balmer |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Jakob-Balmer |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=2026-05-23}}
* {{Cite web |title=Johann Jakob Balmer |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Balmer/ |website=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive |access-date=2026-05-23}}


{{Author|Harold Foppele}}
{{Author|Harold Foppele}}

Latest revision as of 23:02, 24 May 2026

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Johann Balmer
Balmer
Balmer
Born 1 May 1825
Lausen, Switzerland
Died 12 March 1898
Basel, Switzerland


Known for Balmer formula; hydrogen spectral lines

Johann Balmer (1825-1898) was a Swiss mathematician known for the Balmer formula, an empirical relation describing visible spectral lines of hydrogen.

Hydrogen spectrum

Balmer found a simple numerical pattern in hydrogen's visible spectral lines. The formula was discovered before the quantum theory of the atom, but it became an important clue that atomic energy levels are discrete.

Later work by Johannes Rydberg generalized spectral formulas, and Niels Bohr explained the hydrogen spectrum using quantized orbits.

References


Author: Harold Foppele